Cut me a real piece
by HouseMDfan101
Summary: New to Seattle, Bella discovers something sweet at a lil' pie shop. Bella/Alice
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, i was just in the mood to write a story, nothing to serious just a bit of fluff, hope you enjoy.**

**p.s i'd like to shout out to a fellow fanfiction writer Morphy, i hope you enjoyed reading it as much as i liked writing it, cheers dude:)  
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**Cut me a real piece.**

I walked down the deserted street, hugging myself tightly and trying to keep as much of my body warmth as possible. Tonight obviously wasn't my night. I'd only been in Seattle for a week and already things didn't seem to be going well. Story of my life I guess. Tonight had been awful from the get go. I couldn't decide what to wear for my date, the first date since arriving in Seattle, so I'd let my overly excitable roommate choose my attire. And by that I mean all but force me into wearing a dress. There are many reasons why I hate dresses and all of which are perfectly valid. But I'd thought, new city new Bella. Which was a big mistake. What was wrong with the old Bella? Absolutely nothing. What's wrong with the new Bella? She's wearing a dress... need I go on?

After another five minutes of walking in almost complete darkness, I gave up trying to find my own way and instead looked for the nearest restaurant or open shop to help give me directions to my apartment. Yep I was lost. I was lost, annoyed and in a dress, which also meant I was cold. With only a jacket on over this stupid little black dress, which was nowhere near thick or warm enough for this climate, I blame Arizona for not preparing me; I was beginning to wish I'd never left the house. My date had been a disaster. Now the date herself had been nice enough. Jessica was nice and smart and by no means unattractive, but there hadn't been any chemistry and she was a little self involved. She would not stop talking about her ex either, apparently Lauren was 'the nicest person' and 'they still hung out all the time' and even 'were in the same classes at college'. Yeah so I was pretty sure they were one discussion about politics over a latte away from getting back together. So at the end of the date, I'd come clean and said that I'd had a nice time(well not completely, a little white lie never hurt anyone) but preferred that we stayed friends, which she'd agreed to eagerly, giving me her number and asking that we have coffee and hang out, assuring me as friends only. I'd been so glad to finally get out of the restaurant, that I hadn't even asked for directions, knowing that I'd most likely get lost if I didn't. And sure enough, here I was at ten thirty-something at night, alone and lost. Perfect.

I peered up the street ahead of me and noticed a diner still lit up. So I headed in that direction. The bright sign read "Brandon's Seattle pie experience" in big letters, with a small sign that read "open 24 hours Monday to Saturday". Finally some luck, a slice of pie would definitely help improve my mood. So I pushed open the door and ventured inside.

The diner itself wasn't all that impressive. The floor was shiny but scuffed, there were booths lined up the side near the windows, and the counter was clean but obviously old. But it had a homey feel to it, and more importantly it was warm and smelt wonderful. There weren't any other customers and for a second I wondered if they'd shut the place early. My heels made a clacking noise as I walked over to the counter. I drummed my fingers on the counter, peering over searching for an employee. Suddenly a small figure popped up in front of me, as though they'd been crouched there waiting to jump out and scare the next customer. I jumped at their sudden appearance and I swear my heart skipped a few beats.

The figure in front of me beamed, showing off a nice set of teeth.

"Hello- ooops sorry, I didn't mean to startle ya?" the girl grinned apologetically, crinkling up her button like nose. She couldn't be more than sixteen, seventeen at the most. I stared at her, trying to calm down my heart rate. Can someone have a heart attack at twenty?

The girl tilted her head to the side, and inspected me with her hazel eyes.

"Are you ok?" she asked. I nodded quickly. I blinked rapidly a few times, before shaking my head.

"Crap you just came out of nowhere, give me a sec to control my heart rate."

The girl, I looked down quickly at her name tag, Alice, grinned apologetically before tucking a stray hair behind her ear. She had short dark layered hair that she'd tied back into small pigtails, but her hair was a little too short for it, so little wayward strands had escaped.

"Well I did apologize didn't I? But once ya calmed down can I take ya order?" I could make out a slight southern accent, nothing like the ones on television; hers was more subtle, diluted from living in Seattle I guess. That's when I realized I'd come here for a reason, but for the love of me I couldn't quite remember, I think it had something to do with being distracted by Alice's smile, or you know almost being startled to death. Hmmm I could've sworn I came here for a reason, oh yeah pie, that was it right?

"Uh yeah right...um what's good?" I asked. Alice laughed shrugging a bit,

"Well everything's good in here, but if ya want I could pick out one that'd suit ya personality?"

My brow crinkled in confusion. "Pardon? My personality?"

Once again the pixie like girl shrugged. "It's sorta something I'm good at, I take a look at ya, and then I choose a slice of pie that I think you'd like, and if ya don't like it it's on the house. So how 'bout it?"

I blinked a few times before shrugging. "Sure, why not?" She grinned widely.

"That's the spirit! Ok so ya want a coffee to go with it? You look sorta cold." I nodded, and suddenly I felt cold again. I might've been distracted by almost dying...ok I might be over exaggerating, but hell it startled the crap out of me, metaphorically speaking of course.

"Ok, you take a seat and I'll be over in a jiffy." Ha who says jiffy these days? I was beginning to like this girl; she seemed so bubbly and obviously unique. I made my way over to the nearest booth and plopped down. I sighed appreciatively, high heels were another thing I hated and I hadn't realized how sore my feet were until I was sitting. Probably distracted by how cold I was.

I slipped off my heels, groaning slightly out of relief as I rubbed my sore feet.

"Rough night?" I once again jumped at Alice's sudden appearance. I looked up and noticed she was wearing an amused expression.

"Jumpy tonight aren't we? Anyway, here's a slice of lemon meringue and a nice hot cup of coffee, this should warm ya right up."

She placed a delicious looking, and smelling, piece of pie in front of me and then set the mug down as well. I finally got a look at what she was wearing. A green and blue shirt with a cartoon pie above her name tag, a small white apron over a pair of black skinny jeans, and a girl after my own heart, a pair of white chuck taylors. All in all she didn't look to bad. Actually that was a lie, she looked frickin' amazing, quite adorable, especially as she couldn't be more than 5'1.

She hovered for a couple of seconds, looking like she wanted to say something, but she seemed to decide not too, and went to leave. But before she took one step I quickly asked,

"Can you, uh, I mean do you want to sit." I gestured to the other side of the booth, cringing internally at my 'Bella-ness', obviously she was working, why'd I have to ask that. But she surprised me by grinning and sitting down.

"I'd love to, this's gotta be the best offer I've had all night." I grinned back, before digging into the slice of pie. Oh my god, this has to be the best thing I've ever tasted. I swallowed the mouthful, rolling my eyes into the back of my head.

Alice laughed. "See?" she asked, grinning cockily, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"How'd you know?" I asked, covering my mouth with a hand. She shook her head still grinning widely.

"Can't tell ya, trade secret."

"Let me guess, you'd have to kill me if you told me?" I asked, smiling my crooked smile.

She nodded, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table.

"Yeah I think I would, and I don't really wanna, cause I like you..." she trailed off slightly, still smiling but in a different way, it was only a subtle change, and there was something in her eyes, a gleam almost. I swallowed the piece of pie in my mouth, which felt like a challenge seeing as my mouth was suddenly dry. Alice quickly leant back, stretching her arms along the back of the booth before continuing,

"Plus too much trouble cleaning up and getting rid of all the evidence. I'm too tired from working, so sorry but no can do." She winked at me and I felt my cheeks heat up. So I coughed and quickly busied myself by sugaring my coffee. Black and three sugars, just the way I like it.

"So I didn't catch ya name." I looked up from my coffee.

"Oh yeah, I'm Bella, and you're Alice, obviously." I said, pointing at her name tag.

She laughed, glancing down at it too.

"Obviously." I blushed even more, yeah I pointed out the obvious, it's sorta my thing.

"So, _Veronica Mars, _what do you do?" I rolled my eyes at her.

"Oh ha ha, very funny." I'm quite partial to sarcasm. Alice looked slightly impressed, probably at me getting her Veronica Mars reference.

"You a student?" she asked. I nodded, cutting my pie up with the side of my fork.

"Yeah I moved here last week and I had my first class on Monday. What about you? When you're not serving pie with your psychic type ability, what do you do?" I asked, before plopping a forkful of pie into my mouth. I half expected her to say 'senior in high school'.

"Oh I'm a student too, S.U." she noticed my surprised expression and laughed,

"Yeah I look young eh? But I'm nineteen. Good genetics I guess." She shrugged.

"Um yeah cool, I go to S.U too. So what do you study?" I asked, wanting to move the subject along.

"Psychology, you?"

"Literature, but I often wondered about psychology. How you going with it?" I asked, sipping my coffee, enjoying the warmth.

"Good, I guess. It's real interesting; it's just sorta hard juggling my work schedule and studying. Pop's a little demanding when it comes to work hours." My brow crinkled in confusion and I was just about to ask what her pop had to do with it when she cut in.

"Alice _Brandon_, my family own the place." She spread her arms out, gesturing to the diner around us.

"So how often do you work?" I asked, scraping the remainder of the pie from the plate.

"Most days, but only evening shifts on most of the days I've got classes. You should stop by again, try some more of our pies. They're the best in Seattle." She winked at me, before standing and picking up my empty plate. I nodded, before picking up my coffee cup, draining it in one sip and handing it too her.

"Yeah I think I might, it'd be nice seeing a familiar face, so far I've only got my roommates and their family to keep me company." And that's when I remembered the real reason I was here.

"Hey, um, you think you could give me some directions?"

**XxXxXx**

I closed the door behind me, threw my keys on the dresser and made my way across the apartment, stripping out of my jacket. All the lights were off and I squinted, using the soft light coming from the television to help me find my way.

"How was your date?"

For the billionth time tonight I jumped at the sudden appearance of one of my roommates. Ren was lying on the couch, covered in her big ass blanket, rubbing her eyes as she leant up on her elbows. I moved her blanket covered feet so I could sit down, and then placed them back down on my lap.

"Let's just say there won't be a second one."

"Bummer, but I guess if it's not meant to be, then it's not meant to be." Wise words from Miss Renesmee Cullen.

"You got that right. So what about you missy? I thought you and Jake had so big plans for tonight, being all couple-y and in love."

She smirked slightly before jerking her head towards her room.

"Yeah he snores."

"Must be genetic cause Leah keeps me up all night, seriously the freaking walls must be made out of paper or something cause I can hear everything through those walls, and I mean everything."

Ren scrunched her whole face up.

"Ew, too much information, that's my boyfriend's sister you're talking about, not to mention my best friend." I laughed, rubbing her feet lightly.

"Awww Ren, I thought I was your best friend." She rolled her eyes, and sighed exasperatedly.

"You're my new best friend, Leah's my oldest and dearest. Sheesh can't a girl have more than one bff? What kind of world do we live in?"

I couldn't suppress my laughter.

"Bff? What are you, thirteen?" Ren poked her tongue out,

"Thirteen and three quarters, thank you very much."

There was a creaking sound to the left, and I looked up to see a muscular guy in his boxers stand in the doorway of Ren's room rubbing his eyes.

"Think you could lower the noise? Oh hi Bells."

"Hey Jake." I gave him a small wave.

"Sorry babe, didn't mean to wake you. I'll be right in." Ren smiled sweetly at Jake.

He mumbled something before closing the door behind him. Ren stretched her arms over her head, then turned back to me.

"You ok? Want me to stay up and listen to you complain about your crappy date? Cause I don't mind." I shook my head.

"Nah I'm fine, think I might hit the hay too. You go and, um, try to sleep."

Ren stood up, still wrapped in her blanket cacoon, but I could make out one of Jacob's giant jerseys almost swallowing her entire body.

"Well if you're sure. Hey we should invite the gang around for breakfast tomorrow; it's not a Sunday without pancakes and sibling rivalry." She grinned nodding her head over to Leah's room, and then back at her own.

"Yeah sure, why not?" I dragged myself off the couch and walked over to my room, stopping at the door.

"Night Ren."

"Sweet dreams Bell."

I watched as she closed her bedroom door behind her, before opening my own and entering my box filled room. Unpacking sucked, so my way of dealing with it was to ignore it for as long as possible, until it was necessary that I find things.

I quickly changed out of the horrid dress and into my flannel pyjama pants and oversized grey tee, chucked the dress into one of the many boxes, and flopped down onto my futon, stretching and snuggling into my black and grey blankets. I knew I should brush my teeth; I was somewhat o.c.d when it came to my dental hygiene, but I could still taste the lingering flavours of lemon meringue pie, and it reminded me of the cute girl at the pie shop. Alice.

Maybe the 'gang', and by that I mean Ren's friends who let me hang out with them cause I'm new on town and have nobody, would like to visit 'Brandon's Seattle pie experience' sometime. Try that damn fine lemon meringue, and maybe make me seem less of a dork going in there with people instead of showing up by myself again. I drifted off, on top of my blankets, with my bedroom light still on, with the lingering taste of lemon meringue still in my mouth.

**XxXx**

"Pass the syrup."

"No, I'm still using it."

"Bloody hell Jacob you've got enough, what are you gonna do, drink the rest?"

"Sheesh Lee, unbunch your panties why don't ya, there's enough syrup."

Leah narrowed her eyes at her younger brother.

"My underwear is _unbunched _thank you very much, and if we recall we're in my apartment, and I paid for that syrup."

Ren walked over holding the frypan in one hand, and a spatula with fresh pancakes piled on it in the other.

"If _I _recall, we're in our apartment, and Bella bought the syrup." She said placing the fresh pancakes onto my awaiting plate.

Leah rolled her eyes, and muttered a 'same difference' before picking up her knife and fork, and cutting up her pancakes aggressively. Jacob smiled warmly at me, before passing me the syrup.

"Here you go Bella, some nice syrup to go with your delicious pancakes, have as much as you want; you did pay for it after all."

Leah picked up a blueberry and chucked it at Jacob's head, hitting him just above his ear. There was a reason we made them sit at opposite ends of the table. Trying to avoid more sibling fights, I passed the syrup to Leah, who smiled warmly at me, before smiling mockingly at Jacob, who just stuck his tongue out in return. So very mature, you would never guess they were twenty-one and nineteen by the way they still acted.

Ren sat down on Leah's left, across from me and next to Jacob. He passed her a bowl of blueberries and gave her a kiss on the cheek, making her smile and Leah pretend to vomit into her eggs.

"So, this is the gang eh?" I asked jokingly, while pouring juice into my glass. Ren shrugged while she cut up her pancakes.

"Emmett has an early shift at the garage, Quil's at the garage with him cause he's hoping for a job, Edward's got some sort of appointment and Jasper and Rosalie are having breakfast with their mother, she's in town for the weekend or week or something."

I glanced over at Leah, who was staring down at her eggs and pushing them around her plate, with a thoughtful expression on her tanned face. Ren seemed to notice this as well. She nudged Leah with her elbow.

"What's up Lee, not meeting the in laws yet?"

Leah shrugged before placing a large forkful of eggs into her mouth. Jacob laughed loudly.

"Yeah cause what mother wouldn't be impressed by that show of table manners? Fit anymore eggs into your mouth?"

All three of us glared at Jacob, who shrank back slightly, holding his hands out in fake surrender.

"Fine fine, sorry Leah. Gawsh you gals are a scary bunch." He fake shivered before going back to his pancakes. Ren turned back to Leah, raising her eyebrows and waiting for her to answer her previous question. Again Leah shrugged.

"She doesn't know we're together. I think Rose doesn't want her parents to have to deal with two gay kids, so she's just, I dunno, waiting for the right time."

"Believe me Lee," I said, resting my elbows on the table, "there is no 'right time'."

Ren nodded in agreement, and pointed towards me with her fork, "listen to the girl Lee, she knows a few things."

I snorted slightly, "Yeah the ins and outs of coming out to your parents, think I should write a book about it?" I asked rhetorically.

"Yeah maybe you should." Jake actually answered in complete seriousness, which made Leah and I laugh, and Ren pat his arm gently.

"So Bella, I forgot to ask, how was your date last night?" Leah asked, obviously wanting to steer the conversation from her love life to mine. I groaned while rolling my eyes.

"Not so well. There definitely isn't going to be a date number two."

We both looked at Ren, who shrugged.

"I'm no lesbian but I thought she'd be a good date." Jacob laughed, and placed his arms on the back of Ren's chair.

"Good thing you're not. But you know if you ever have the urge to make out with a girl..."

Ren turned to him, and pointed a finger at him threateningly.

"Don't finish that sentence." Jacob closed his mouth, pretending to lock it and throw away the key. Smirking at both Leah and I, before winking, but made an 'oomph' noise as Ren elbowed him in the stomach. There was a knock at the front door, distracting us all from Jacob's shenanigans.

"Whoever that is, if you have a key use it." Leah shouted out, before going back to her breakfast. A couple seconds passed before the door opened, and two blonde figures entered, still in deep conversation, or rather in the middle of an argument.

"But seriously Rose, the woman's trying to make an effort; the least you could do is try to be nice."

"Me paying for breakfast is me trying to be nice. It's not my fault the woman's a raging- oh hey guys, something smells great." Rosalie smiled warmly as she made her way over to the kitchen table, stopping by Leah's chair and giving her a peck on the lips, before going over to the kitchen counter and pouring herself a cup of coffee. Jasper sat down on one of the empty chairs, and continued the argument with his twin.

"Well we don't pick our family, so could you at least, you know, try harder?"

Ren decided to enter the conversation.

"What's going on?" she asked. Rosalie plopped down on the empty chair between mine and her brother's, and opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off before she got the chance.

"Rosalie not getting along with our mother again."

"Excuse me, it isn't just my fault. The woman is insufferable, how she's managed to be married three times is beyond me."

The week that I'd lived here I'd picked up that whenever Jasper and Rosalie had an argument, everyone else shut up so that they could listen, I had to admit it was rather interesting. And not to mention hilarious.

"Well just think of it this way, she's been divorced twice as well, or is she divorcing hubby number three?" Leah asked, entering the conversation as well. Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"It's only a matter of days, she just knows how to drive away a man, believe me."

"Well I haven't met her so I'll have to take your word for it." Leah said it in such a casual way, it made the words that more pointed, and Rosalie paused for a second, looking at Leah with her head tilted slightly. I could feel the awkwardness start to build, so I added my voice to the conversation.

"So I found this great little twenty-four hours pie shop last night, anyone wanna check it out tomorrow?"

Jacob's eyes grew wider and she sat up a little straighter in his chair.

"Dude that sounds great, I could go for a nice slice of pie, well actually maybe a dozen slices of pie." He turned and high fived Jasper, who turned to me,

"You mean the place a couple of blocks away? Something pie experience?"

I nodded, "yeah Brandon's Seattle pie experience." Which made Ren laugh.

"What, are they paying you to advertise or do you just really like the place?"

I couldn't help but blush a bit.

"Well they do have great pie and, uh, great service."

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**So i hope you guy enjoyed it. i'll still be continuing with 'caffeine fix' just in case you were wondering, so writing this story won't keep me from writing the other one.**

**so anyway thanks for reading, cheers x  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Cut me a real piece chapter 2**

"You smell."

"Yeah, people who work out generally do."

Leah rolled her eyes at her younger brother, who was digging through the fridge mere feet away, dressed in his work out gear which consisted of baggy shorts and a white v neck t-shirt, and reeking of b.o.

"Well people generally shower after working out, so go and cleanse yourself of that god awful stench. You're interrupting study time." She tapped one of her many books with a pencil, before pointing to me. I wasn't so much 'studying' as doodling on a notebook and jotting down ideas for a novel. But I made a noncommittal noise, between a 'mhm' and a grunt.

Jacob closed the fridge door, and walked over to the table bottle of water in hand. He leant over Leah and started to read over her shoulder, positively smothering her with his man stench.

"Ew Jacob, gross! Seriously Ren's not even here, so why are you?" she pushed him away with one hand, while the other covered her mouth and nose. He just laughed and made his way over to the couch, plopping down and flipping the TV onto some sports channel.

"Cause you all love me, I'm a delight to have around. And I'm waiting for Ren, and from what I can recall she enjoy my smell- the smell of a man."

Leah turned a page in her book while muttering a 'and people wonder why we're gay' under her breath, I couldn't help but grin at the comment. The sad thing is, that sort of reminded me of a few of the guys I dated back in high school.

There was a jingling of keys outside the door, before it unlocked and a paint spattered Ren entered, looking quite pleased at something. Probably from spending a whole day being artistic and junk. Jacob jumped up, chucked the bottle of water on the couch and bounded over to her, picking her up off the floor and spinning her around slightly while they kissed. Sheesh, we get it you're in love, stop with the sickeningly sweet hello's.

"Hey baby, I missed you." Jacob cooed as he placed her back on her feet.

"Hey I missed you too, but sheesh you smell." Leah let out a triumphant "ha", before turning back to her books. Jacob just shrugged, smiling cheekily.

"Yeah well now you do too." Ren just sighed grabbing him by his hand and dragging him into the bathroom. Great, group shower time, 'cause that's a lovely and not at all disturbing image. I looked over at Leah who looked horrified and shivered slightly.

"Yeah so that's disturbing...you wanna head out? I sorta don't want to be in a one mile radius of that bathroom." I looked down at my notebook, it was Monday afternoon and I knew I couldn't be out too late, with college tomorrow. But when we heard the water turn on in the bathroom and a muffled giggle, we both stood up quickly.

"I'll grab our coats."

"And I'll get the keys."

XxXx

We walked aimlessly down the street, just enjoying being out of the apartment, and away from certain happenings. I put both hands into my jean pockets, before taking them out and putting them into my hoody pockets. I was sort of a fidgety person when I walked, I just didn't know what to do with my hands, it was a weird habit. One Leah picked up on.

"You're quite fidgety." She commented, sticking her hands into her denim jacket.

"Yeah," I said, putting my hands back into my jean pockets, "I am. But you'll get used to it." I shrugged. She smiled, nodding her head slightly.

"It's not a big deal, it's just interesting I guess...Well to me anyway."

We continued to walk in a comfortable silence, until we reached a music store and Leah grabbed me by the arm.

"Oh ok this is too good, hang on we have to go in her for a sec." She dragged me into the store before I had a chance to speak. Maybe she just really liked music?

The store was dimly lit and had shelves of records lining the walls. There were posters of old bands on the walls and there were bars on the windows. It was cool in a slightly dingy way. And that's when I noticed the guy at the counter. Edward.

I'd only met him a couple of times, and every time he'd been very aloof and apathetic. His auburn hair was out of control, apart from his fringe which was sleeked down and had streaks of red and black in it. Both sides of his lip were pierced, as well as his nose and all down the side of his right ear. He seemed to only wear extremely tight black jeans with suspenders and some band t-shirt over a long sleeved shirt. He was a college dropout and thought that he had more chance making it as a musician if he had as much free time as possible.

He looked up from his magazine as Leah steered me over towards him, a smirk on her tanned face and a playful gleam in her eye. She leant in towards me and stage whispered,

"And here we have the elusive 'Emo', in his natural habitat. Docile in nature, but when provoked can become quite aggressive. He tries to lure a mate by showing off his outrageous hair style, much like the male peacock, and showing off his figure in skin tight jeans, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. What a majestic creature, although they're becoming extinct because they never get laid, which enables them to breed other little emo cubs."

Edward rolled his eyes, before going back to his magazine.

"Didn't you read the sign outside, no dogs allowed." He didn't bother looking up from his magazine. Leah grabbed her chest dramatically.

"Ouch, that hurt Ed. Don't you love me anymore?" she placed her elbows on the counter opposite him. He kept reading, trying to ignore her. Which was impossible, no one could ignore Leah for long.

She turned to me, eyebrows raised and with a look of mock concern on her face.

"You think he's going deaf from blasting all that awful music too loud?" she asked me, and I laughed before shrugging,

"I think so, and you know who we have to blame? Those darn musicians and their rock and roll!"

We both laughed loudly, making Edward huff and look up at us.

"Seriously just because you sleep with my boyfriend's sister, doesn't mean we're friends." He glared as Leah just laughed.

"Aw and here I was thinking we were fast becoming besties, don't you just have the urge to braid my hair and gossip?"

"Whatever. But speaking of, where is the blonde bombshell?" Edward asked, closing his magazine and walking over to a stack of records. Leah hopped up on the counter and watched as Edward started to sort through them, kicking the counter with the back of her feet.

"Which one?" She asked back.

"Your one." He answered. I looked up from the pile of records I'd be inspecting, as Leah shrugged.

"At the Garage I think or studying with Claire. One of those, I can't really remember."

Edward laughed, "Wow great listening skills there Lee, man you're a great girlfriend."

"You know it." She grinned, hopping down off the counter, "And as much as I love giving you advice on being a good girlfriend, Bella and I have places to be. Catch'ya on the flip side."

Edward rolled his eyes as we left the shop. As the door swung shut behind us, Leah looped her arm through mine and between laughs said,

"Ok, we're so coming back next Monday."

XxXx

We were once again aimlessly wandering down the street when I noticed a certain pie shop from Saturday night. I tugged on Leah's jacket sleeve.

"Hey, you in the mood for pie?" I asked, unable to hide the enthusiasm in my voice. Leah looked over at me, before peering through the front window and shrugging.

"Yeah sure, hang on though I wanna give Rose a call, get her to meet us, try and convince her pie is a good study food. I'll be right behind you, order me something tasty." I nodded before making my way into the shop as Leah pulled out her phone.

I entered the diner, and after a quick scan of the place noticed there were actually other customers this time. Although the place was hardly crowded, just a few people scattered here and there. I also noticed a certain waitress, who was taking an order from an old guy wearing a trucker hat. It wasn't hard to recognise Alice; she sort of had a unique hair style, which she had again put into two little pigtails. Not to mention she was rather petite.

I slid into the nearest booth, on the side facing away from the entrance, and pulled down my hood. Glancing out the window to check on how Leah was going I caught sight of my reflection and instantly I began running my hands through my hair, trying to get rid of my hat hair, or rather hood hair. Damn you Seattle and your hooded jacket wearing weather. Realizing I was in a public place, I stopped my frantic hair combing, and tried to do it as subtly as possible. I probably looked either really nervous, or that I was jonsing for a fix. After making my hair look as presentable as I'd ever get it by just using my fingers, I busied myself by fiddling with my phone. I looked up as Leah slid into the seat opposite me.

"She'll be here in a few," I nodded tucking my phone back into my pocket as Leah picked up the menu and scanned it, "so what's good here?" she asked. I picked up a menu too and took a quick scan too, although I already knew what I wanted.

"Well if it isn't my favourite customer. Couldn't stay away eh?"

I smiled automatically at the sound of Alice's voice. And when I looked up at her, I could feel my cheeks start to heat up. Damn it, blushing is so unbecoming.

"Hey, yeah I, uh we," I glanced towards Leah who was watching me with an amused expression, "were really craving pie." I watched as Alice also glanced at Leah, her smile faltered slightly before focusing back on me.

"So what can I get ya?" she asked, pulling out a note pad and removing a pencil from behind her ear. Um, adorable much?

I shrugged, looking over at Leah.

"You know what you want Lee?" she nodded, before leaning over and offering her menu to Alice.

"Chocolate peanut butter cup pie for me and she'll have the lemon meringue thanks."

Alice's lips pulled up into a smirk as I handed her my menu. She probably knew I'd been constantly praising the delicious pie to everyone I knew since eating the damn thing.

"Sure thing, I'll be right back."

I watched her walk off, admiring her, um, gracefulness. When she was out of ear range, Leah let out a snort.

"Yeah I can see why you like it here so much, the view is very nice."

I blushed three shades of red, before leaning back and resting my arms on the back of the booth.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said, avoiding eye contact with the tanned girl opposite me. She just laughed harder and shook her head slowly.

"Oh come on Bella, don't play coy with me. You have a thing for that waitress. That cute little thang with the doe eyes and pigtails. I had no idea you were a cradle robber."

"No I'm not! And anyway she's nineteen." I defended myself, crossing my arms defensively. Leah raised an eyebrow, a mocking expression appearing on her face.

"And you know this how?"

I paused briefly.

"She told me. Ok so I stopped by here after the horrible date the other night and well we got talking," I started playing with a lose thread on my sleeve, "She's cool."

Leah continued to watch me with an extremely amused expression.

"Yeah that's how it always starts out, one person thinks the other's cool and then before you know it you're having wild, hot, mind blowing-"

"Shush pie's here."

"Is that code name for 'chick you wanna bang'?" I glared at her through narrowed eyes, pointing a finger at her threateningly. She just rolled her eyes, and pretended to zip her lips and throw away the key.

Alice placed our pies in front of us, giving me a small smile before asking us if we needed anything else. Leah shook her head as I cut a piece of pie off with the side of my fork. Alice smiled politely at Leah, gave me a wink and left. Again I watched her walk off, holding my fork with the piece of pie near my mouth.

"Oh my god, this pie is amazing. Ok I can see why you like it so much here, well apart from the hot lil' waitress."

I looked back over at Leah, placing the forkful of pie into my mouth. I chewed slowly, savouring the deliciousness that is pie. God I could live on this stuff.

I glanced out the window and spotted Rosalie approaching the diner.

"I can actually see why you're so smitten with her, she's actually quite ador-"

"Shhh the Mrs." I interrupted as Rosalie walked in. She smiled widely as she approached our table.

"Hey baby." She greeted, sitting down next to Leah and kissing her sweetly, before taking of her scarf and gloves, placing them on the table and smiling politely at me.

"Hi Bella."

I smiled back, not saying anything seeing as I had a mouthful of pie. Rosalie picked up a fork and cut off a piece of Leah's pie.

"Woman!" She exclaimed, "That's how people lose fingers. Don't get between a gal and her pie!" she warned her jokingly. Rosalie just rolled her eyes before cutting off another piece.

Leah looked over at me, "She never listens to me." She sighed, nodding her head in Rosalie's direction before resting an arm on the booth behind her. She leant in closer to Leah before shrugging and smirking at me.

"But she puts up with me cause she loves me," She sighed in mock exasperation, "I'm her whole world."

Leah burst out laughing, before placing a kiss on Rosalie's temple and then rolling her eyes at me.

Xx

A while later, when Leah and I were on our second piece of pie and Rosalie was paged '911' by the garage and had to leave, Leah's phone beeped signalling she had a text message. I watched as she pulled out her cell and read the text. Her eyes widened comically and she swore rather loudly, gaining attention from an elderly couple in the booth next to ours. Leah stood up, shoving her cell phone in her jean pocket before ripping out her wallet and chucking some notes on the table.

"I gotta run, fucking Jacob I tell you, fuck! Why do I even try?" I watched Leah's rant half way between concerned and amused.

"Yeah cool, I'll just stay here I guess. Wait what's up?"

Leah just shook her head, running her hand through her hair looking exasperated.

"Trust me, you don't want to know. I'll see you later, oh," she stopped halfway to the door, fishing around in her jacket pocket before pulling out the keys, pulling off one of her many keys and placing it on the table in front of me, "you're gonna need this, spare key. Later dude."

I sat watching out the window as Leah departed, fiddling with the key.

"Ditched?"

I turned around just as Alice picked the plates up.

"Huh? Oh, no she's just got an emergency or something," I laughed lightly, "I'm sure everyone in this place heard her."

Alice giggled lightly, "Yeah, she was kinda loud." She paused, glancing down at the notes Leah had thrown down on the table, "At least she payed for the meal. Can I get ya anything else?"

I tucked some hair behind my ear, cleared my throat slightly as I got up the nerve to ask her to join me for some coffee on her break. People did that right? Ask other people who they thought were cute to join them for some coffee and a friendly chat? Alice raised an eyebrow slightly, grinning like she knew what I was about to ask and also knew I was nervous as frick. Calm and collected wasn't my thing, but I did have some charm and in my own weird little way I was rather suave.

"Uh yeah, do you wanna, on your break of course, join me?" I asked, gesturing to the seat opposite mine slightly with my hand, watching her reaction to my request.

She beamed brightly before nodding.

"I'd love too. I'm on my break in about five, so if you don't mind waiting round for a bit I'll clear these up," she gestured with the dishes in her hand, jerking her head towards the back of the dinner, "and I'll be right back."

I nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah sure, I'll be right here. Take your time."

I watched as she walked off, and as I was admiring her...figure, she turned around and smirked back at me. I quickly looked back at the table, blushing slightly, before glancing back up at her and grinning as she winked back at me before disappearing in the back part of the diner.

I sat playing with the salt shaker as I waited. And sure enough, five minutes later Alice appeared out of the back room, buttoning up her jacket as she walked towards me.

"Hey so I don't really like hanging around here on my breaks, you wanna go for a walk?"

I nodded, picking up my own jacket and chucking it on. "Yeah sure, sounds good."

I followed Alice out of the diner, pulling up my hood and then sticking my hands into my pockets. We walked in the direction of my apartment, before turning off down a side street which appeared to me a short cut to a park.

"How ya liking Seattle so far?" Alice asked.

"Hmmm well the weather is a definite change, and I don't think I'll be getting used to it anytime soon. But apart from that, yeah it's great. Nice people, great college and my apartment's heaps homey feeling then I expected it to be."

"Yeah I know what ya mean; the cold weather takes a lot to get used to. It was a big change from Dallas, and it took me a while too. But you'll get used to it, if you stay here long enough. Ok hang on a sec, I'm good at this," Alice stopped walking, holding her hands up in front of her. I stopped walking and turned to her, my eyebrows raised in question.

"So you're not from the north, obviously, you're from somewhere warm. You don't have a southern accent so you're not from Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia or Mississippi. Hmmm so either it's somewhere in Florida, California or..." she paused for a second, seeing to inspect me as she stroked her chin, before she snapped her fingers and pointed at me,

"Got it! You're from somewhere in Arizona." She took my slightly shocked silence as confirmation, "I'm not just a pretty face, or a pie expert either. So where in Arizona you from?" she asked.

I laughed, "What, you don't know? Can't you tell from the way I have my coffee, or the how I walk or some other completely random thing I do?"

Alice shrugged, grinning widely. "Well I'm good, but I'm not psychic, somethings I just don't know."

We started walking again, heading back in the direction of the diner.

"Phoenix." I glanced over at Alice, who nodded with a thoughtful expression on her face, before she glanced back at me and grinned.

"I knew that."

"No you didn't"

"Yes I did."

"How?" I asked, but the only response I got back was a laugh and a shake of her head.

"Can't tell ya, trade secret remember."

"Are you a con artist? And you don't actually know but you guess by looking at my facial expression. Like when you said I don't have an accent but I'm from somewhere warm, I like moved my lips or eyebrow unintentionally giving you the answer. Or when you said either Florida or California I might've subconsciously shook my head slightly."

Alice turned to me, looking very serious.

"Yes. I'm a grifter who works at a pie shop part time, and I con people into thinking I know where they're from. I don't earn any money from it but I get a kick out of tricking them. I'm power hungry like that and I'm secretly planning on using these abilities to take over the world, where I'll spend my days tricking others and getting off on the fact I'm tricking people. You caught me, I confess, god you're good!"

I rolled my eyes as her serious expression was replaced by a highly amused one. Alice came to a stop beside me, and that's when I noticed we were back at the pie shop. Wow I was so immersed in the conversation with her, I was oblivious to my surroundings. I'm surprised I didn't run into anything.

"Well I gotta get back inside, my shift sorta finished ten minutes ago."

I kicked the ground lightly with the tip of my sneaker.

"Yeah sorry about that, ha, I kinda lost track of time, time flies when you're having fun I guess."

Alice nodded, laughing lightly before scratching the back of her neck.

"Yeah I t does, doesn't it. Well I'd love to do this again, sometime in the not too distant future. Well actually I'd love to do something with you sooner, like next Friday night."

"Like a date?" I asked.

Alice nodded, still scratching the back of her neck.

"Yep. So you free?"

I pursed my lips, before holding up a finger.

"One question first." Alice watched me for a second, for the first time since meeting her; she looked like the nervous one for a change.

"Uh, yeah?"

I smiled warmly, "Seriously, how'd you know I was from Arizona?"

* * *

**Hey guys, so i hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as i enjoyed writing it. And thank you for all the wonderful reviews, you guys are the best.**

**Cheers x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Cut me a real piece ch 3**

I groaned slightly, rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, before taking a sip of my coffee, which also happened to be my third one that morning. I knew I shouldn't have stayed out so late last night, and I was paying for it now.

"Late night eh Bells?" Jacob chuckled from across the table. I'd been surprised to see him up this early. Actually I'd been surprised to see him at our apartment so early on a Monday morning, usually he didn't stay over on Sunday nights seeing as Ren, like me, had an early class, and Jake had to be at his class reasonably early too.

I made a noncommittal noise between a grunt and a groan, before taking another big sip of coffee. I wasn't a morning person on a good day, and seeing as I didn't make it back home til late, well late for a Sunday night, my mood was even sourer than usual.

"You might want to take it easy with the coffee, caffeine is a serious drug."

To which I replied so maturely with, "and you might want to bite me," which just made Jake laugh harder. I narrowed my eyes, more irritated than usual by him laughing at me,

"What did you, like, break in through a window so you could drink all our coffee and eat all our bagels, or are you here to do some lovey dovey couply crap like surprising Ren with a bouquet of flowers or chocolate or chocolate covered flowers incrusted with love heart shaped candy?"

After Jake was done guffawing loudly, he wiped a tear of laughter from his eye and replied,

"Wow you are in a mood, and obviously haven't bumped into my dear sister this morning either,"

He took a sip of his coffee, but after noticing my raised eyebrow and serious expression; he swallowed his mouthful, shrugged and answered,

"I've moved in."

"No, you haven't."

Leah appeared from her room, looking almost as tired and grumpy as I was. I was betting this was the reason for Leah's outburst at the pie shop yesterday. Jacob rolled his eyes before raising his coffee to his lips, and before taking a sip asked,

"Good morning Leah, sleep well?"

"No," she answered curtly, walking over to the kitchen bench and pouring herself some java, "the little bombshell you and Ren dropped on me last night had me all worked up, so no I didn't have a good night, but I will tonight once you get your crap out of my apartment and move back in with Emmett, and if when you're older and more mature and still want to play house with Ren then by all means go find a place of your own." She finished her rant, sat down at the table next to me then took a big sip of her coffee and opened the newspaper and buried her head behind it, signalling the end of the conversation.

Oh yes, I could tell already that today was going to be interesting.

Xx

After my last class of the day, instead of going and hanging out at the little coffee shop just of campus like most of the people in my class did, I headed back to the apartment in hope of some peace and quiet. But of course world war three was going on in the living room, and I was pretty sure one of the Black siblings were about to get their butt kicked, and I was pretty sure I knew which one was.

"What the hell? I thought I told you to move your crap, not unpack and leave your shit everywhere. This is not a frat house, and I am not, I repeat NOT going to put up with this!"

Leah and Jacob were standing on either sides of the living room, with Ren hovering somewhere between, conflicted as to which side to take. On one hand there was Leah, her best friend and roommate and on the other hand there was Jacob, her boyfriend and, uh, I guess roommate? I wasn't really sure what was going on, I was trying to be just an innocent bystander and stay at the kitchen table, editing my classmate's short story and not get caught up in the drama. But of course it didn't help that Leah started to drag me into it.

"And anyway," Leah started, glancing at me as I tried to discreetly watch their fight over the top of the page I was reading, "even if I wanted you here, there's not enough room now Bella's moved in. And she's not going anywhere, so don't even think about it Jacob!" she threatened.

Jake looked slightly outraged at his older sister's accusation.

"I wasn't even- no way I wouldn't-," he turned to me, "Bella I wasn't even, I wouldn't dream of trying to, you know how much I like-"

"I know." I cut in, making a waving gesture as though disregarding the thought. Which seeing the look Leah gave me, told me that she was hoping I'd back her up. So I decided to stay quiet for the rest of the argument. It was the safest thing to do. Although I kept on wanting to ask why they were overreacting so much...seemed weird to me, but I guess seeing as I didn't have any siblings, I didn't really get the whole sibling rivalry thing. But still, they seemed to me to be extremely overreacting, although I wouldn't dare dream of pointing that out. I liked living here, oh and living full stop.

I zoned out for a while, but what seemed like a short time later, doors slammed and both Black siblings seemed to disappear into either bedrooms, leaving Ren standing in the living room, a weary look on her face. I smiled sympathetically and patted the seat next to me. She fell on the seat, looking exhausted, and rested her elbow on the table and her chin on her hand, watching me with mild interest.

"Whatcha doing?" she asked after a short silence.

"Editing a short story for a friend," I picked up a red marker and circled a few grammatical errors, "It's quite depressing actually. Got more angst than a my chemical romance song." Ren smiled softly before sighing loudly and looking down at the table.

"Yep, I understand angst alright. There seems to be a lot of it round here at the moment," I nodded, trying to look supportive without actually saying anything, I really didn't want to get even more caught up in it than I already seemed to be. But she seemed to take my silence as an invitation to continue,

"I just don't know what to do..." she trailed off, looking at me hopefully. I sighed inwardly; of course I was indivertibly going to get caught up in the drama. I was after all in close vicinity to the drama zone.

"Well, I guess you could..." I trailed off, trying to decide how to phrase it, "wait a little longer before moving in together. I mean if you guys are certain you want to live together, then don't you think you'll still want to in another year or two, don't rush into it if the only reason you are is that you can't wait or that..." I trailed off, frowning slightly at Ren's confused look, "I'm not getting my point across am I?" I asked. Ren made a jerky movement between a shrug and a nod.

"Just...wait a little longer will ya, just for Leah's sanity. It wouldn't look very good on her part if she murdered her own brother because he left dirty socks on the kitchen bench."

A grin broke out on Ren's face and she laughed loudly, before nodding. I silently prayed it was the end of the conversation, and almost fist pumped when she rose from her chair and made her way through the living room, pausing at her bedroom door, hand hovering over the doorknob for a moment, before she shook her head, crossed over the living room and knocked on Leah's door. As she waited for permission to enter, she glanced over at me and said,

"These damn Blacks are going to make me go prematurely grey."

XxXx

I awoke early Wednesday morning to the sound of loud whispers and laughter coming from the living room area. What was the point of whispering when you were doing it so loud? They might as well have whispered to each other through bullhorns.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as I dragged myself out of bed, stumbled half asleep to my door and stuck my head out to see what all the commotion was about, and just as I did the bathroom door swung open and Jacob shuffled out, pulling a t-shirt over his head and running a hand through his wet hair. He spotted me, gave me a wink and a smile before turning around and kissing Ren, who was wearing a large fluffy towel, before running out the door, closing it gently shut behind him. When Ren caught sight of me she blushed then shrugged,

"He's moved in," she whispered, before eyeing Leah's door and adding, "don't tell Leah."

What was the point of giving advice when no one took it? I rolled my eyes, before turning around and closing the door behind me.

Xx

I sat at the breakfast table, playing idly with my eggs and every once in a while glancing up at Leah, who had a smug look on her face, one that I'd noticed she had every time she won an argument. She took a swig of her coffee, placed the cup back down on the table and said,

"See isn't this better with just the three of us? More coffee, more hot water," out of the corner of my eye I saw Ren trying to hide a smile behind her coffee cup, she also looked like she was trying to keep in laughter, "and especially no more annoying overly displays of affection or half naked people prancing around the apartment." Just as she said that, her bedroom door opened and out walked Rosalie, dressed only in a large t-shirt and underwear, who in what appeared to be a half asleep stupor, walked across the living room and into the bathroom. It was silent for about two seconds, Ren eyeing Leah with a 'oh really?' look, before I burst out laughing. Seriously? What a freaking hypocrite.

Leah pointed her spoon at Ren, opened her mouth as though to say something, paused for a second before shaking her head and going back to eating her breakfast. Ren glanced at me, a smug look on her face, before taking a sip of her coffee.

Was I the only one in this apartment who wasn't a hypocrite?

XxXx

On Wednesday afternoon, after my last class of the day, Ren had all but dragged me out to meet some of her artsy friends for coffee. Apparently Jacob didn't get along so well with them, he thought they were pretentious and stuck up, or as he put it 'a bunch of beret wearing gits'. So I'd been the next reasonable choice as company, although I couldn't see why, I had no idea about art so I knew I'd most likely not understand what they were going on about and make a complete idiot of myself.

Ren pulled me into a small cosy looking coffee shop on the corner of the street. It was an alright place, it was warm and smelt like coffee so it was good in my books. After a quick scan of the place, Ren waved to a couple people sitting at one of the tables before dragging me over by my wrist. Seriously, what was up with people dragging me?

I was actually quite surprised by how regular they looked. I was half expecting them in all black with berets and stuck up looks on their faces, from what Jake had told me. Serves me right for listening to his over exaggerating dramatisations. I felt a tiny bit ashamed at how quickly I'd judged them, before evening meeting them.

"Everyone this is Bella, Bella this is, well, everyone."

The black haired guy wearing a grey beanie grinned at me. The girl with long brown hair, tied into a messy bun, and freckles smiled warmly before eyeing the other guy, who had dark brown hair that hung down into his familiar looking hazel eyes, was staring at me with what could only be described as a slightly in awe expression.

Ren, realizing she needed to repeat the introduction, preferably better, rolled her eyes before pointing to them and saying their names.

"Ben," she pointed to the guy with the beanie, "Angela," she pointed to the girl, "and Alec." After pointing to the last guy, who upon hearing his name seemed to snap out of his gaze and blushed madly before muttering a 'hello' and turning back to his coffee.

Ren and I settled down at the table and after a couple of minutes of awkward 'getting to know Bella' moments, conversation started to flow a lot easier, and before I knew it we were all acting like we'd known each other for years. I was in the middle of discussing the newest Harry Potter movie with Ben, when Ren piped up. "Ok I'm going to grab something to eat, does anyone wanna go halves in something?" she turned her gaze to Alec, after the rest of us declined. He shrugged before nodding,

"Ok so I'm either up for a blueberry scone or a slice of pie-"

"Scone definitely, I swear if I see one more slice of pie..." he trailed off, shaking his head, before laughing and continuing, "just, had enough pie to last me a life time."

I had the urge to ask if he'd recently entered a pie eating contest, or tell him that 'Brandon's Seattle pie experience' would get him to change his mind about his apparent pie discrimination, when Ben continued our previous conversation about Harry Potter, and the question I was about to ask Alec was wiped from my mind. I love Harry Potter, so sue me.

XxXx

"So that was fun. You had a good time right?" Ren asked as she looped her arm through mine, slowing down her fast 'I've had too much coffee now I'm hyper and have to walk really fast' pace to match mine.

"Yes, I did, but sheesh Ren hold back on the espressos next time, you're shaking."

Ren shook her head, her teeth chattering as she looked around at the crowded foot path around us,

"Am-am not, it's just chilly out here, and hey you drank more than me."

"Yeah but there's a difference, my body's used to it so I can more. So next time stop at four, m'kay?" Ren rolled her eyes, before her teeth chattering became louder and I could feel her pace starting to speed up and that she was starting to drag me again. Serious she was going the right way for a-

The threat of violence stopped abruptly in my head as we passed the bus stop and I noticed a familiar petite girl, wrapped up in a black jacket, purple scarf and matching beanie, sitting on the bench reading a thick book. As I stopped walking, Ren let out an impatient sound and tried to start dragging me again.

"Bella! Come on, I'm frickin cold! Move it Bella! Bella!"

After the third time Ren said my name, Alice looked up from her book, looked around and caught sight of me. She beamed brightly, but then her gaze fell upon mine and Ren's linked arms and her eyebrow rose ever so slightly. Quickly, noticing how one could misinterpret the situation, I withdrew my arm and walked over to the bus stop.

"Hey Alice." I greeted, hesitating slightly before sitting down on the bench next to her.

"Hi." She greeted back, closing the book, resting it on her lap, before glancing over her shoulder. As I mirrored her movement, looking over my shoulder, I saw Ren standing exactly where she was before, except she was shaking noticeably and was doing some sort of hop, like she couldn't stand still. She was also giving me a questioning stare. I turned back to Alice and laughed,

"That completely sane person over there, who by the way hasn't had too much coffee she's just 'cold' and apparently has to pee, is my roommate Ren." I waved Ren over. She half hobbled half bound over.

"Dude, we don't take the bus."

I ignored her statement and instead decided to introduce them, and I was going to do a better job than Ren had. I was competitive like that.

"Ren, this is Alice," a smirk appeared on Ren's face and I knew Leah had been filling her in on the happenings of my love life, "Alice, Ren."

The two girls shook hands, and I felt very proud at my introduction abilities.

"So," Ren started after she withdrew her hand from Alice's, still smirking, "you're the girl that's caused our Bella to become, what's the term, smitten?"

Alice raised an eyebrow in question, although she looked quite pleased, Ren laughed loudly and I resisted the urge to face palm, feeling my face heat up and knew I was without a doubt blushing tomato red. Although I tried my hardest to act nonchalant and act 'cool' about it. I shrugged slightly, coughed, then turned and studied the bus schedule, listening to the two girls continue with their conversation.

"-so how about it?" Ren asked. I'd obviously missed something important and listened carefully, trying to catch up on what was going on. Alice shrugged, standing up and checking her watch.

"I guess I could catch a later bus..if it's alright with Bella, I mean I don't want to intrude.." she trailed off.

"what now?" I asked looking away from her bus schedule, now that I was certain I wasn't blushing so much.

"Alice coming over to our place," Ren said, "she'll catch a later bus, or if one of our friends is around with a car then they can drop her off-"

"I'll walk her to the bus stop." I interrupted.

"Coolieo, so it's sorted. Now let's head back, I could do with a nice strong coffee."

XxXx

After Ren let us into the apartment, searching for a good five minutes for her keys, I gave Alice a very short tour of the apartment.

"Cool," Alice said, standing in the living room and looking around, "this is one of the nicest loft I've seen."

I glanced around at the apartment, at the high ceiling held up by wood beams, hardwood floor and the large open space that lead to the kitchen. The place was spacious and wonderful. It let in natural light and even though it was rather open, it was somehow also cosy. I still wasn't used to how lucky I'd been to be able to live here.

"Thanks, uh so...do you want a coffee?" I asked, and as Ren opened her mouth I quickly interrupted, "not you, you've had enough."

Ren gave me a withering look before rolling her eyes, muttering a 'yes _mum_' and storming into the kitchen. She could be such a drama queen.

I turned back to Alice, "So, was that a yes for coffee?" I asked again.

Alice opened her mouth to answer but before she could Ren interjected,

"Or if you want we have beer, well Leah has beer but we share everything so I'm sure it'll be fine."

I looked over at Ren, who was already holding a couple bottles in her hands, and shrugged,

"Yeah I'm up for it," I looked back over at Alice, "you want one?" I asked, accepting one of the bottles from Ren and twisting the top off. Alice seemed to deliberate for a second before accepting a cold beverage.

A couple of hours later and a couple of beers too, we were all in very high spirits, laughing at each other's stories, most of them involving Ren and Edward getting up to trouble as kids. I lifted my fourth beer to my lips and took a sip, listening to another one of Ren's hilarious stories.

"-So anyway the next morning Dad comes into the room to wake up Ed and finds the 'welcome to Forks' sign, three empty bottles of spray paint and Ed and I climbing in through the window. He was not amused, and eventually we ended up having to give the goat back. But still we have the memories, oh and a few Polaroids too."

"Wait," Alice, in between laughs, managed to ask, "what happened to Mike?"

Ren swallowed her mouthful of beer before answering with a huge grin, "Oh, well we left him unconscious outside the police station, after he tried the moves on Leah she kinda got majorly pissed at him. Although I'm pretty sure he wasn't mad about that, no he was more focussed on how we shaved his head and left him in his underwear..now that I think about it, it might have been a bit mean spirited leaving him in just his underwear..although if you ask Leah she sticks with the whole 'don't do the crime if you can't do the time' belief."

I nodded, trying to hold in my laughter and look serious, "Well it's also a belief I was raised on too. Well from Charlie anyway, Renee was more of a 'do what you want but don't get caught' type of mother. It's a surprise I turned out so well."

Ren let out a very loud snort, spraying some beer out as well.

"What?" I asked staring at Ren through narrowed eyes, still keeping up the serious charade I had going. Alice cleared her throat before interjecting,

"Well you are drinking underage. Unless I missed the memo that they've changed the drinking age to twenty."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, grinning widely, "Well I'm older than the both of you, unless you've both forgotten that you're nineteen. So shut it and respect you elders you juvenile delinquents."

Both Ren and Alice burst into laughter, and we were all too distracted to notice the front door open and three figures appear, arms full on grocery bags.

"Dudes, nobody told me there was a party going on. Not cool man, not cool at all."

Emmett entered the apartment, followed closely by Leah and Rosalie. Ren waved exuberantly, before jumping up and greeting Emmett with a hug, which forced him to hold the groceries over his head.

"Hey guys," Leah passed by the couch Alice and I were seated on, placed the shopping bags on the kitchen table before turning to us, "Emmett's joining us for dinner so he'll be crashing on the..." she trailed off as she caught sight of Alice and I on the couch. She raised an eyebrow as she stared at us, and for a split second I thought her reaction was about Alice being here, before she continued,

"...is that my beer?"

Xx

"So thanks for inviting me over. I just hope Leah's not too mad about the beer."

"Nah don't worry about it, Ren'll just reimburse her for the ones we drank and Leah'll probably just add 'those who take a beer from the fridge must replace said beverage by the end of the business week or pay addition charges' to the list of house rules."

Alice laughed, placing her hands from her jacket pockets, but stopped laughing when she caught sight of my serious face.

"You're serious?" she asked.

"Oh I'm very much serious; she actually made us sign a 'contract' stating that we understood the terms of conditions of living in the apartment. She's going to be a damn fine lawyer, she's practically one already."

Alice started laughing, it started off as a small giggle but when I started laughing too, before we knew it we were both laughing so hard that we were getting a lot of stares from the few people out and about. Once our laughter died away we had arrived at the bus stop.

Alice inspected the timetable, pulling out her phone to check the time.

"Well looks like the next bus'll be here in about five minutes," she glanced at me, grinning slightly, "do you mind waiting-" before she had the chance to finish her request I'd already sat down on the bench. I patted the space next to me, "Of course. Plus, uh, I have to ask you about something."

As soon as Alice was seated I blurted out, "So Friday night, we're still on right?"

Alice slapped her hand to the forehead, "Oh crap! I completely forgot about that, and I've gone and made other plans."

My heart sank a little, and I didn't bother hiding the disappointed look,

"Oh well it's, uh, it's ok it's nothing..." I trailed off as I caught sight of the cheeky look on the petite girl's face. I blushed furiously as I realised she was teasing me.

"That's not funny."

Alice nodded, giggling, "No I'm pretty sure it is."

"Yeah, yeah, well you're just mean...So wait Friday night's still on then?" I asked hopefully.

Alice nodded, "Of course, here let me give you my number and I'll call you with the plans. It's sort of a surprise so I can't tell you anything yet. But I'm pretty sure it'll rock you world."

After switching numbers with her, the bus arrived. She turned to leave, but after pausing momentarily, she turned to me and planted a quick kiss on my lips. As chaste as it might've been, it still made my breath catch in my chest.

I watched as the bus pulled away and sped off down the street. I continued watching until it rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. I grinned widely, setting off towards my apartment with a spring in my step, wishing it was Friday already.

XxXx


End file.
